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Tampa Indie Film History Database - If A Tree Falls, And No One Is Around, Does It Make A Sound?
Sunday, March 28, 2010 - 2:19 PM - Tampa Indie Film Log for Filmmaker C. A. Passinault
Boring Indie Film
I browsed some
magazines recently at the local book store, and, with fading hope, took
another look at filmmaker magazine. Is it me, or is the magazine just
boring?
I want to like filmmaker. I really do. It’s just the same B.S. and
pretense, about filmmakers doing the same old thing that other filmmakers
are doing. Who cares if some well-known actor tries to buy their way into
a filmmaking career. You either have it, or you don’t. You can’t
buy it, and you certainly cannot fake it.
I remember my editing final in 1993, when I took television production
course at the University of Tampa, spent a lot of time working on various
productions down at Jones intercable, and worked on a variety of local
independent films and local productions for major networks. Those were
the days. My friends would go night clubbing all weekend, and I’d
spend my time doing camera on some show, floor directing, rigging lighting,
running sound, directing, or acting. You have to pay your dues. I saw
a lot of people come and go. Some realized that they didn’t have
it. Some did. I knew that I did. It was in my blood. It didn’t come
easy, though, and certainly, nothing worthwhile ever does.
I remember my first night running a camera on a live show. I was so nervous.
The technical director would direct me through my headset, and I got all
the directions backwards. Laura, an actress and model from Orlando who
also worked in production, was floor director that night. She saw that
I was in trouble. She covered for me. The director was screaming at me,
and all sorts of profanity was filling my ears. She smiled, and calmed
them down. “Hey”, she said calmly, “You guys ever hear
of a reaction shot? Leave the kid alone, and let him figure it out.”
I did figure it out, too, as Laura helped calm my nerves. I quickly became
very good at running a television camera, and soon became a floor director
myself. Within a few months, I was certified at just about everything,
except for producer. I’d have to do my first program to get that.
With editing, though, there was no learning curve. I just did it. I had
been a popular underground DJ for a few years, and was working on my third
generation of cassette program releases. I did a lot of editing with my
audio programs, and video wasn’t much different. Editing was just
something that I did naturally.
So, there I was. It was my editing final. I had a few CD’s on me,
and some random 3/4 inch tapes from the station library. I sat in there
a while, turning the knobs on the editor, spinning the wheels to find
what I needed. I got creative, especially since I had to. I put together
some footage with beats, almost like an actor would deliver lines, and
made a tape which delivered. I then mixed a music track with my CD’s,
and matched up the audio to the video.
My instructors were impressed. They were especially impressed that I was
able to take random clips out of context, make something totally new with
them, and then turn it into a music video which told a story. Hey, that’s
what filmmaking is all about, really. You tell a story.
My instructors and I really got on well. In my life, I never see a middle
ground. People either love me, or hate me. Those that get to know me usually
get along with me well. Those who don’t get to know me assume the
worst, usually, and that demographic is where I find people who hate me,
for one reason or another.
That’s how I became an actor. The doors opened because people liked
me. I fell into it. Laura could see it in me. So could others. I worked
with some instructors, too, and in one case, during a graphics class,
we began to talk about old Sid and Marty Krofft shows from the 70's. It
turned into a singing bout with the song for H.R. Pufnstuf, and before
you know it, I was being invited to help with indie film and stage projects,
which I did.
I did a reading one night with a comedy troupe from Ruth Eckerd Hall.
I was there on the production side of things, but was open to other things.
We were short on actors, so I read lines with them from a script which
one of the actor/ directors was shopping around. At the end of the night,
I was offered the lead in a play. I declined, and settled for acting in
television commercials, which I did a lot of from 1994 until 1997.
Laura, back at the station, was one of the few actors/ models whom I knew
who also did work on production crews. She bridged the worlds, much like
I did. Even in the early days, too, I really got along well with actors
and talent. Some of them would tell me that I was one of them, and they
could tell that I was going to end up doing a lot of cool things in the
industry.
Of course, with the DJ’ing, event planning, and later, the photography
and modeling industry work, I did accomplish a lot of cool things, but
overall, all those things going on slowed down my production goals. Indie
film, and television production, was a passion for me, and it would be
some time before I could find the time, and the resources, to work it.
I have a lot of experience in a diverse array of professions, though,
and that foundation will become essential for being able to transcend
the same old things that have been going on in indie film for as far back
as filmmaking has existed. I certainly have invested in something really
special, and that should become apparent in the coming months and years.
With filmmaker magazine, I really want to like it. It’s kind of
like an indie film which I watched recently, Experiment 7. I
really wanted to like the film going in, and once I saw how slick and
cool the introduction was, my hope grew. It quickly fell, though, as the
film skipped over the exposition and the character development, and then
disintegrated into a series of random action scenes. Experiment 7 just
sucked, and although I am a professional writer, you didn’t have
to be a writer to realize that the film just didn’t cut it. A lot
of people in the audience realized that it sucked, too. Ultimately, though,
that’s where the film failed; it failed in the writing and character
development.
Some things you just can’t fake. Filmmaking and writing are among
them. As a writer, you have to write what you know. You can’t B.S.
the audience if you don’t know what you are writing about. You also
can’t create a good script by rushing it. You have to take your
time, do your research, and flesh out the script. You have to know who
your characters are, put some logic into the plot points, map out an expositional
arc, and do a hell of a lot of tweaking. A good script for a short film
averages a few weeks to get it right. For a feature film, it could be
as much as a few months. When I wrote the original script for the Reverence
feature film back in 2001, it took me over a year to finish it, at 120
pages, and I ended up bringing in another writer to help me. Although
it came out ok, it wasn’t some of my best work. The other writer
helped the script considerably, and even added some things which I missed,
fleshing it out, but in the end, I was never completely happy with it
(check out the original Reverence
script, and judge for yourself, if you wish).
I’m a good writer (read The
Point, which will be turned into a short film, an excerpt
from my Frontier
4 novel, and Born
Beautiful, a series of stories, if you need proof),
and I know my material well when I write it. Despite this, the original
script for Reverence fell short. It was simply too ambitious.
Had those two production teams not withdrew from the project, and we had
made the film, I don’t think that it would have sold, and I would
have been in serious debt. It would have ended up like The Web Of
Darkness, or Unearthed, which were two feature films which
were also done around the same time. I would have had to self-publish
the film on customfix like Rick did with The Web of Darkness.
Also, despite having a superior script (as relayed to me at a casting
by an actor who had read it), Unearthed never sold, either, as
far as I know.
I’m glad that the original Reverence failed. Really, I am. I don’t
think that it would not have sold, and I do not want to be known for doing
films the same way that everyone else does them or is supposed to do them.
I’ve learned so much since then, and have a lot of time to work
on the details for a new game plan. That game plan has the potential to
be the future of Tampa indie film, and all filmmakers, not just myself,
will benefit. It will be my gift to them, with no strings attached, and
no hidden, self-service agenda which some Tampa filmmakers are infamous
for.
Does Tampa indie film really need cookie-cutter, assembly line, film-by-numbers
indie films like Experiment 7? Does it really need some of the
pretentious film festivals that we’ve had to endure, also? Film
festivals like Gasparilla and Sunscreen, frankly, bore me, also. We need
creative filmmakers making indie films in new ways, and making films that
no one else is making. We also need film festivals which are sincere about
supporting the few good Tampa filmmakers who are out there, and not film
festivals which are simply little more than marketing platforms to lure
the competition of Tampa filmmakers here to use Tampa Bay as a location
to shoot films. We need good Tampa indie films, and film festivals which
support them!
That’s why I’m bored. Is there anyone out there doing anything
worth getting excited about, or am I going to be the only one to take
initiative? I guess we will all find out.
In the meantime, though, I’ll just leave it on the shelf, and look
for more exciting things. Or, shortly, at least make them happen.
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UPDATED 01/03/11
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